Dollar Steady After Upbeat US Jobs Data

The Dollar Kept its Gains After a Better-Than-Expected US Jobs Data Report

The dollar remained optimistic on Monday following another upbeat US jobs data report, pulling the currency away from 15-month lows.

Koji Fukaya said that the recent jobs data was able to prevent the greenback’s bear trend for the time being, adding that they can only hope that the Federal Reserve will start trimming its balance sheet at the September meeting.

Although the latest figures helped the US dollar by keeping expectations that the Fed will raise interest, markets still require more proof of strong fundamentals to confirm the currency’s growth.

Analysts said that this week will be crucial for the greenback. The sluggish growth in the 10-year Treasury yield, despite strong jobs report, may indicate that investors are still worried regarding US’ slow inflation rate.

Those inflation concerns could be lessened if data in the producer and consumer price indexes (CPIs) will be better than expected, only then would the US dollar will be able make a real turning point.

Producers’ prices will be released on Thursday, while CPI figures will be presented on Friday.

Major Currencies

Despite the greenback’s continuous gains, the US dollar index lost 0.08 percent to 93.42 against a basket of six major currencies after adding 0.7 percent on Friday.

Due to positive jobs report, the US dollar rebounded from last week’s seven-week decline against the yen as it gained 0.1 percent to 110.81. The pair’s trading range for the day is from a low of 110.65 to a peak of 110.88.

The greenback was also on the gaining side with the rest of the major currencies, with a 0.06 percent boost to 0.9732 against the Swiss franc, as well as a 0.2 percent boost to 1.2682 on the Canadian dollar.

The euro was up 0.2 percent to 1.1796 against the dollar, while the pound edged higher by 0.1 percent to 1.3052.

Other high-earning currencies, including the Australian dollar, were slightly changed on Monday as markets were still processing US’ latest jobs data report.

The aussie was down by 0.2 percent to 0.7906 against the greenback. Trading volumes were likely to stay slim given that the country’s markets are closed for a national holiday.

The kiwi fell against the US dollar after New Zealand’s inflation expectations data slipped from 2.2 percent to 2.1 percent in the second quarter.

The New Zealand dollar is currently trading less by 0.7 percent to 0.7358 against its US counterpart.

Upbeat US Jobs Data Report

According to government’s data released on Friday, the US’ non-farm payroll employment added a remarkable 209,000 in July, barely showing any indication of fatigue as the country moves toward the path to economic recovery. The figure also significantly surpassed economists’ forecast of 180,000.

For the past two months, the US was able to create almost 450,000 new jobs, dragging unemployment rate down to a 16-year low of 4.3 percent. Unemployment rate was at 4.4 percent in June.

Average hourly income rose 0.3 percent, in line with analysts’ estimate, following a 0.2 percent gain in June. Wages grew for the fourth consecutive month by 2.5 percent from a year earlier to 26.36 in July.

Major gainers include professional and business services with 65,000, and education and health services, making 43,000.

US President Donald Trump called the latest report as excellent, adding that it is only just the beginning as his administration vowed to ease regulations, reduce taxes, and perform other methods to raise employment and attract more businesses to keep or establish operations in the US.

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